


Moon Curse

by marguerite_26



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Bondage, Feral Behavior, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-11
Updated: 2012-03-11
Packaged: 2017-11-01 19:26:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/360385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marguerite_26/pseuds/marguerite_26
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Gwaine is tainted with the Moon Curse, Merlin devises a plan to keep Gwaine and the people of Camelot safe during the full moon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moon Curse

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://leashy-bebes.livejournal.com/profile)[**leashy_bebes**](http://leashy-bebes.livejournal.com/) , [](http://nympha-alba.livejournal.com/profile)[**nympha_alba**](http://nympha-alba.livejournal.com/) and [](http://novemberlite.livejournal.com/profile)[**novemberlite**](http://novemberlite.livejournal.com/) for the beta reads.  
>  Originally posted Oct 28, 2011

“They won’t hold.” Gwaine yanked on the manacles until they bit at his wrists and made the bedframe creak in protest.

Merlin didn’t bother looking up. The iron cuff beneath Merlin’s hand wrapped around Gwaine’s ankle and the lock snicked into place. “They will.”

“Dammit, Merlin,” Gwaine snarled, twisting to get a better view of the window. The rain that pounded the window pane made it impossible to see any more than the grey-blue blur of the forest at dusk. “Get the hell out of here while you still can.”

“Can’t,” Merlin said, his tone light and matter of fact.

“Idiot.”

Merlin’s lips pressed tight, his eyes flashing. “I won’t leave you.”

“You don’t know what it’s like, Merlin.” Gwaine’s words caught in his throat as he remembered the month before, remembered waking in a pool of blood that wasn’t his own, remembered the body. “It’s not safe. I’m not safe.”

The fire crackled in the silence of the tiny hut as Merlin looked at him, sadness etched in his eyes. Merlin had found him that morning. He’d cleaned him and dealt with the body, had made the excuses to the family, to the king. He’s spun complicated lies of a rabid wolf free in the lower town, that the wolf had been killed and burned already to keep the infection from spreading. It was Merlin who had researched the curse -- infected blood that changed a man on the night of the full moon -- and Merlin who had found this hut to hide Gwaine away for the next three nights.

“You need to trust me.” Merlin’s voice was deep, tinted with authority.

Gwaine sighed. “It’s not you that I don’t trust, Merlin, it’s the iron.” He gave another sharp tug to the chains.

Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, making himself taller, broader than he usually appeared. When his eyelids fluttered open, Merlin’s irises shone gold. He was whispering, strange lyrical words that made no sense, but the cuffs at Gwaine’s wrists and ankles heated and glowed.

“You have magic.” Gwaine stared blankly, waiting for his brain to catch up with his mouth.

Merlin’s lips twitched into a sad smile and he nodded. “I found a spell that will lessen the effect of the curse. I -- I don’t know exactly what will happen, but you should be able to remain in your right mind, your right... _body_ so long as you wear these cuffs the nights around the full moon.”

With a gust of wind, a branch knocked the window pane. They looked over in unison, and Gwaine knew they shared the same thought: night had fallen.

“The moon’s rising.” Gwaine could feel it in his skin. It was coming. A shiver of helplessness creep down his spine. “Merlin, please.”

Merlin shook his head then busied himself stoking the fire and unpacking some bread and cheese from his pack. He sat at the rickety table and laid out his meal as though he were oblivious to the danger. Only the worried flicker of his eyes and the tightness of his shoulders as he pulled off a chunk of bread said otherwise.

Gwaine squeezed his eyes shut, teeth clenched against the tirade he wanted to shout at Merlin for his foolishness. But he needed his strength now in his futile attempt to remain in control. He could feel the transformation just beneath the surface, could feel the pull, the quickening of his heart, the lust to be free, out in the forest running and hunting and devouring...

He cried out, scrambling in a clank of metal and the groan of the wood bedframe. The moon called to him; his blood sang with it. But his bones did not crack and grow, and his muscles did not tear. His skin burned with the need to transform. Around his wrists and ankles, the manacles hummed with magic.

Something cool and wet, soft, swiped his brow. His eyes snapped open.

Merlin was at his side. So close. “You’re burning up,” he whispered, his voice cracking.

Gwaine tried to speak but his throat was too raw, like he’d been screaming for hours. He was human. It was human hands that were clenched in fists above his head, human skin gone hot and flushed with fever. But his blood rushed through his veins like a beast, heart thundering with instinct. And when he breathed deeply, his nostrils flared at the new scents around him. _Merlin_.

“Closer,” he rasped. The voice was barely human, almost unrecognizable though Gwaine knew it came from his own mouth.

Merlin startled, stepped away from the bed, his brow furrowed.

Gwaine breathed in again, picking apart each aspect of the room’s scents: the decay of old wood, the cloying smoke from the fire, the sharpness of the uneaten cheese on the table. But overpowering all of it was the heady scent of earth and forest and Merlin. He breathed again and was filled with mindless _want_. It began low in his stomach, simmering through his body until the very tips of his fingers tingled with it. He arched off the bed, pulling at his chains, ready to gnaw off his own hand to get free.

“Gwaine?” Merlin took a tentative step forward.

His wrists were slick, moving easily within the tight cuffs -- one step closer to being able to reach out, to grab and hold and not let go. He growled at the sting in his wrists and looked up to see the thick lines of red dripping down his forearms.

“Stop.” Merlin’s fingers wrapped around Gwaine’s biceps, stilling him.“You’re bleeding.”

Merlin’s touch was soothing and Gwaine shivered as his control returned to him, if somewhat frayed and raw. He melted into the touch, let it wash over him as he tried to calm his breathing.

“That helps?”

“You --” Gwaine cleared the thickness from his throat. Merlin was leaning over him, his neckerchief swaying above Gwaine’s nose. “ _You_ help.”

Merlin let go; Gwaine wanted to scream in frustration. The reaction was immediate, a painful crash of panic at the loss. He gritted his teeth, arching off the bed as far as the chains allowed to regain contact. “Please.”

Merlin’s hand pressed on his chest, pushing him back in place. “I’m not going anywhere.” But he lifted his hand again obviously not understanding.

“Keep touching,” Gwaine whined, twisting in his chains at the torture.

“Oh.” Merlin put his hand back and Gwaine sagged into the mattress in relief. “The spell talked of grounding. The magic needs an outlet to diffuse the power of the curse and I thought the manacles...”

Gwaine listened half-heartedly as Merlin went on. He was in no frame of mind to argue but the response his body had to the weight of Merlin’s hand on the centre of his chest had nothing to do with _grounding_. It did not explain how Gwaine’s skin became alive, like every hair on his body stood on end, so aware of the contact. No, this had everything to do with _Merlin_ , his reaction to Merlin intensified to the extreme.

“Kiss me.” His voice was deep, sultry, but far more human than before. Gwaine craned his neck, closing his eyes and clutching his fists tight in hope.

Nothing happened for heartbeat then Merlin shifted, his weight suddenly pressing in on Gwaine, stealing his breath. Gwaine felt soft lips tremble next to his.

Gwaine moaned, his body lit with pleasure at the barest graze of a kiss. He pressed forward and Merlin met his need, wetting the kiss with a swipe of his tongue. Gwaine could taste the tang of the cheese, and the richness of the watered down wine they’d drank earlier. He hummed in pleasure, nipping and sucking Merlin’s plump bottom lip until it was red and swollen, so very pretty in the firelight. Merlin climbed up to join him on the bed, Gwaine sucked a mark on Merlin’s neck. His teeth ached to bite.

He kissed every inch of Merlin he could reach, cursing the chains for limiting his choices.

Merlin seemed to understand, whispering into his ear, “It’s okay. Let me,” as his fingers roamed Gwaine’s body. The touches were feather-light at first, skimming over the sensitive skin under his arm then down his side until he slipped his hands under Gwaine’s tunic. Merlin’s fingers where shockingly cool on his fever-hot skin.

He squirmed with a half-laugh, half-moan when Merlin traced the waistband of his breaches, his muscles clenching beneath the touch.

“This all right?” Merlin paused, looking in Gwaine’s eyes before his palm cupped the outline of Gwaine’s hard cock.

“I need -- fuck, Merlin -- I need...” He rolled his hips, pressing into to Merlin’s palm.

“Ah.” Merlin moaned, rocking against Gwaine’s thigh in time with his hand rubbing Gwaine’s crotch through the worn cloth of his breeches.

Gwaine panted and pulling at his chains, needing more. “Please.” It came out more of a growl then a plea.

Merlin didn’t tease; his fingers made short work of both their laces and, kneeling between Gwaine’s legs, he wrapped his hand around both their cocks and began to pump.

“Merlin.” Gwaine called out, the growl unmistakable this time. His hips bucked up, off pace to Merlin’s strokes, but he was frantic, wild with his own need. His vision flashed white and a splash of warm come hit below his navel.

Merlin worked them a little longer. Gwaine winced, achingly sensitive, but Merlin soon shuddered and added to the mess on Gwaine’s stomach. The hut was rank with sex and sweat.

Gwaine’s pulse calmed. He was vaguely aware of the soft tickle of Merlin cleaning up, the feel of covers being drawn around them both as exhaustion finally dragged him under.

~o~

Gwaine blinked awake. A beam of sunlight was streaming through the dirty window, brightening the old shack that had seemed so haunting the night before. He rolled to his side and belatedly realised his arms and legs were free. His wrists ached, but were wrapped in clean bandages.

Across the room Merlin stirred a pot of something sweet-smelling. He looked over and smiled. “You’re up.”

Gwaine rose to his elbow and pain sliced through his shoulder. “Undecided,” he said, falling back to bed.

“You should rest.” Merlin spooned something that looked like porridge but smelt like honey into a wooden bowl. He waved his hand over it, his eyes flashing gold, and handed it to Gwaine. “This will help get your strength back.”

“You have magic.” Gwaine had hardly had a chance to process that information the night before. It felt far too important for his wrung out body to handle properly. “Thank you for the manacles. And … whatever you did.”

As Merlin shrugged, his shirt pulled open and Gwaine caught sight of a purple bruise on Merlin’s neck. His stomach knotted.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Gwaine said, staring at the food, no longer hungry.

“Gwaine.” Merlin sat on the bed, let his hand rest on Gwaine’s knee. It was warm and comforting, a ghost of the effect Merlin’s touch had on Gwaine the night before but just as welcome. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m glad I could help and...” Merlin ducked his head, playing at an errant thread on Gwaine’s breeches. “I didn’t do anything I haven’t wanted to do for ages.”

“Yeah?”

Merlin looked up at him through thick, black lashes and Gwaine felt desire stir in him that had nothing to do with any moon curse. He reached out and brushed Merlin’s flushed cheeks with the back of his hand.

“I guess I’ll need to keep my strength up then.”

Merlin snorted a laugh and Gwaine tucked in to breakfast with a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> [Link to original post on LJ](http://gwaine-quest.livejournal.com/13852.html)


End file.
